Flavio Tavares

Flavio Tavares (died September 1719) was a Portuguese Navy captain. In September 1719, he was taken prisoner by the pirate Bartholomew Roberts aboard his ship Princess, and Roberts decided to use Tavares to assist him wtih a ruse. Roberts disguised his ally Edward Kenway's ship, the Jackdaw, as a recently-captured pirate ship that had been pressed into Portuguese service, and he had Tavares speak to other Portuguese sailors as the ship moved towards its target, the man o' war Nosso Senhor da Compreensao. Tavares claimed that the ship was on a quiet cruise to ensure that all of the Portuguese ships were in fine shape and working order, and he also asked how many merchant ships were in the 42-strong Portuguese fleet. Later, Tavares claimed that the ship was infected with the plague from diseased cargo, giving the pirates an excuse to "quarantine" themselves. Roberts proceeded to kill Tavares after he had "outlived his usefulness", throwing him into the water.